Requesting for upgrading the National Council for Hotel Management & Catering Technology ( Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India ) into a Deemed university status and upgrading the 3 year Diploma in Hotel Management to a 4 year Bachelor degree BHM

Submitted by : Indian Hotel Management Association IHMA

Respected Sir,

Subject : Mass request for upgrading the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, New Delhi ( Ministry of Tourism) into a Deemed university status and upgrading the 3 year Diploma in Hotel Management to a 4 year Bachelor degree - regarding.

We,the Indian Hotel Management Association IHMA representing Hotel Management Diploma holders passed out from the 21 Institutes of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition ( IHMCT & AN ) run by the National Council for Hotel Management Catering Technology under the Ministry of Tourism - Govt. of India, would like to submit this mass petition to bring to your urgent kind attention the following facts:

National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology under the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India was set up in the year 1982 by the Government of India as an autonomous body for coordinated growth and development of hospitality education in the country.The NCHMCT runs 21 Institutes of Hotel Management and Catering Technology ( IHMCT ) in the different states in India. The admission to the Diploma course are done through an All India Joint entrance examination, personal interview and group discussion conducted in different centres allover India. All the IHM students are very talented who have a high academic level and most of them chose Hotel Management profession expecting a successful career eventhough they got admission to the Medical and Engineering courses.

From the year 1984 when the NCHMCT was started, the students were being awarded a 3 year Diploma in Hotel Management & Catering Technology.

As the students of IHMCTs were awarded the 3 year Diploma in Hotel management they were not eligible to apply for the following :

1) Diploma holders are not able to get higher positions in Hotel industry and their promotions are limited to General Manager of a 5 star Hotel. But the students from the private colleges can get promotions and higher positions as they have a Bachelor Degree and are able to do higher education such as Masters degree to get promoted to corporate positions.

2) Diploma holders are not eligible for higher studies in post graduate courses such as MBA in Hospitality Management, Business Management and PhD programs in Indian Institute of Management ( IIMs), Universities in India and abroad. But the students from private colleges who possess a Bachelor degree were eligible to apply for all the above.

3) Diploma holders are not eligible for employment in the state and Central and different State Government organisations such as Gazetted officer positions, Indian Administrative Service or even to apply as a clerk where a bachelor's degree is the minimum qualification. But the students from private colleges who possess a Bachelor degree were eligible to apply for all the above.

4) Diploma holders are not eligible apply for the teaching positions such as Lecturer, Professor, Principal, Dean or Director in the Colleges and Universities in India and abroad as they need a Masters and PhD in Hotel Management. But the students from the private colleges who have a BHM are able to do higher studies to get a Masters and PhD in Hotel Management in India and abroad.

5) Diploma holders are not eligible to register in the Government Employment exchanges in the India as the 3 year Diploma is not recognized by the Government Employment exchanges and those who went to register were denied registration and they were advised that they should possess a degree. The students from the private colleges who have a degree are able to apply for the above mentioned.

6) Diploma holders are not eligible to apply for Emigration Clearance Not required( ECNR ) from the passport offices under the Government of India and so they are/were loosing a lot of job opportunities to go abroad.The students from the private colleges who have a degree are able to apply for the above mentioned.

In the year 1997, a mass petition signed by all the students of IHMCT, Trivandrum and was sent to the President of India, the Prime Minister of India, Minister for Tourism and other Ministers of Govt. of India and the Director of NCHMCT. In the above said mass petition, the students requested to upgrade the Diploma in Hotel Management (DHMCT) to a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management degree program as there was no degree programs offered by the Government run Institutes of Hotel Management in India and upgrade the NCHMCT to a Deemed University status. During that time the Degree programs were offered only by the Private colleges in India.

As a result of the above said mass petition / memorandum in 1997, the NCHMCT and IGNOU jointly decided to start the 3 year Bachelor of Science Hospitality and Hotel Administration BHM program and finally commenced the degree program in 2003 and the past 3 year Diploma holders were given chance to complete their degree.But unfortunately only for two years the diploma to degree conversion program was conducted by NCHMCT & IGNOU and later the programme was only offered to the present students to get a Bachelor degree. Due to this only very few 3 year Diploma holders were able to complete the degree program as nobody was aware of this program. But there are nearly about 40,000 of the 3 year Diploma holders in India who would like to upgrade their Diploma to a Degree level and all of them were really very frustrated when the NCHMCT stopped the degree program.

As the IGNOU is an open university and conducts distance education courses, the Bachelor of Science and the MSc degrees in Hotel Management are not recognized by the organisations under the Central and various State Governments, the Government employment exchanges and the Universities in India and abroad. It is difficult to get employment in India and abroad with an open University degree whereas the private college students who possess a 4 year Bachelor's degree from the private colleges affiliated under different Universities are able to get employment easily in India and abroad.

So on behalf of nearly 40,000 3 year Diploma / 3 year BHM holders and thousands of present students of IHMCTs allover India, we would very humbly like to request you, the honorable Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi to take necessary actions to kindly consider the following :

1)To start the Diploma to degree conversion/upgradation program again for the nearly 40,000 of 3 year Diploma holders and 3 year BSc Hospitality Management holders in India to enable them to get their dream Bachelor degree 4 year Bachelor of Hotel Management BHM.

2) To Upgrade the NCHMCT into a Deemed university by passing a new resolution in the Parliament of India in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in order to grant bachelor degrees to the students of the 21 IHMCTs allover India.

We would like to offer all the support for you, Mr. Narendra Modi, honourable Prime Minister of India for the above mentioned.